Kosher food bank helps Jews in need
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/14/v-fullstory/2165604/kosher-food-bank-helps-jews-in.html
By Ana Veciana-Suarezaveciana@MiamiHerald.com
A series of unexpected events — the sour economy, her husband’s illness and a son’s cancer — landed Randee Sallee where she thought she would never be: on the receiving end of charity. But thanks to the Jewish Community Services’ Kosher Food Bank, her family will celebrate Passover this Monday night with matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish and matzoh, a traditional cracker-like unleavened bread.
Each dish will conform to her faith’s dietary laws for the holiday.
“I never thought somebody would be handing me the chicken and the matzoh ball mix,” says Sallee, 54, of North Dade. “But that’s where I am now and it’s a great gift. I can’t begin to explain the kind of support the food bank has given me.”
Sallee’s is one of 310 families — 498 adults and 233 children — served by the JCS Kosher Food Bank in North Miami Beach. It’s a pantry unlike any other. It serves only Jewish families in Miami-Dade and its provisions, everything from canned veggies to meats, eggs and produce, are all kosher, providing a lifeline for those who, because of religious convictions, cannot find help at other food banks.
Originally started by two philanthropic Jewish families, JCS took over the pantry and expanded it in 2003, requiring that all families applying for assistance meet federal poverty guidelines. Clients now receive more than kosher peanut butter or eggs. Assessed by a social worker and a licensed mental health professional, the applicants are also referred to other resources. For instance, Sallee, who has worked as a substitute teacher, is getting help updating her résumé.
Increased need
Last year, because of the tough economy, JCS saw the number of new food bank clients double, at a time when grants evaporated and donations fell off.
“We saw more people who had lost their jobs because of the financial crisis,” says Graciela Chemerinsky, food bank coordinator. “We also saw more people who were once donors now needing help.”
These were families facing foreclosure, women in the midst of divorce and elderly people whose adult children had moved in after losing their jobs.
Last summer, Susana Szydlo of North Miami Beach was at her wit’s end after splitting with her husband of 27 years. On disability, she sought help from then-U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek’s office, where a staff member gave her the phone number for JCS. Within hours, she had an appointment at the food bank.
“They saved my life,” says Szydlo, who had no food in the refrigerator when she first visited the pantry.
The food bank has also had success stories, people who, with help from JCS, have managed to transition out of help from the agency. A couple who lost their jobs found other employment through JCS.
For younger families, the help is temporary until they “get on their feet,” Chemerinsky said. For older clients, on fixed incomes, with no work prospects, the aid is more permanent.
To preserve privacy, clients are given appointments every half hour and ushered in through one door and out another so they don’t have to meet other clients. “Many of our clients have our phone number for months and are too embarrassed to use it,” Chemerinsky says.
Pushing a cart down the warehouse aisles, clients choose quantities according to family size. A typical family of four can shop for staples including three scoops of dry beans, four boxes of macaroni and cheese, a dozen eggs and two bags of rice. Those with larger families come in twice a month, while families of fewer than four come in once a month.
When the JCS first took over the food bank, everyone, regardless of family size, shopped twice a month. “Now not only do we have more people, we are also stretching every dollar,” says Debbie Hurwitz, JCS’s director of access services.
The food bank prepares for Passover, which commemorates the Hebrews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, the same way kosher-keeping Jewish families around the world do.
They scrub shelves and refrigerators clean and give away or sell the chametz. Chametz is anything that contains barley, wheat, rye, oats and spelt that has leavened. Ashkenazi Jews who hail from Europe also do not eat rice, peanuts, corn and legumes during Passover because they can be used to make bread and may also have other grains mixed in. These items are named kitniyot. Jews refrain from eating leavened dishes during Passover to symbolize their ancestors’ hurried flight, which left them no time to allow the bread to leaven.
Passover meals
For the past month or so, kosher food bank clients have shopped for “kosher for Passover” items. Breakfast cereals, flour, pasta, rice and other staples have been replaced by matzoh meal mixes, potato starch and jars of grape juice and gefilte fish. Even the area that usually contains baby food jars has changed for the holiday.
In addition to food, the pantry also provides other items, depending on the season and the generosity of donors. This month, books, videos and plush toys line the shelves of an aisle.
While the kosher food bank is funded primarily through JCS , it also depends on private donors. It is also a beneficiary agency of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
Marissa Weiner of Pinecrest is collecting cake mixes, frosting, sprinkles and other baking items as donations from guests for her May bat mitzvah, a birthday celebration that ushers Jewish girls into adulthood. Bat mitzvahs — or bar mitzvahs for boys — usually incorporate a component of charitable giving.
Marissa said she selected the food bank for her charitable contribution because she loves to bake and “I felt bad that kids and families can’t even afford a box of brownie mix.”
Synagogues and children at Jewish day schools also contribute regularly. Sharon Rudman and Anat Garzon run the Kids for Kosher Food Bank, a program that collects food and other items from students at Hebrew and Jewish day schools in Miami-Dade. Depending on the pantry’s needs, one month it may be baby items. Another month it may be women’s toiletries.
“It’s a process of learning charity at a young age,” Rudman says. “Now it may be one tube of diaper rash ointment, but when they’re older and making money, you hope they will do more, maybe fund an entire program.”